Big Data: The key to recruiting and retaining talent says Rahaf Harfoush

When it comes to winning the war for talent, recruiting and retaining employees is critical. Gathering data about employees to better shape their work experience is a step that’s often missed.

That’s the message from Rahaf Harfoush, HBA ’06, co-author of The Decoded Company: Know Your Talent Better than You Know Your Customers.

At an Ivey Idea Forum in Toronto on February 25, Harfoush revealed why gathering information about employees’ work preferences and habits can help companies to predict problems before they occur and offer help at the exact moment it’s required to enhance their performance for the long term.

“It’s about the leadership of companies understanding the issues,” she said.

She cited how Klick Health, a digital marketing agency that specializes in health care, created a system called Genome, a custom-built intranet with tools aimed at managing time, budgets and people. Through tools, such as a ticketing system to track employees’ work tasks, Klick’s leaders learned valuable information about the employees such as who worked well together, who was good at particular tasks, and who was contributing a lot to the company.

“The result was people didn’t feel as micro-managed,” said Harfoush. “Companies should personalize everything. One-size-fits-all policies don’t work.”